Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 08/09/09 - 09/01/10

Urgent ... An emergency session of parliament on Saturday and there is a compromise solution to avoid veto

Learn from the source that he was agreed to accept a compromise solution to avoid the veto during a meeting with Talabani, Hashemi, shortly before"

The source added that the Chairman of the Majlis al-Samarrai receives letter from Talabani to convene an emergency session of parliament a day after tomorrow, Saturday

http://al-iraqnews.net/new/ajeel/44603.html

President Talabani receives his deputy al-Hashimi

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani received his deputy Tariq al-Hashimi in Baghdad on Thursday December 3, 2009 to discuss the elections law and talks among political blocs regarding the law.

In a press statement following the meeting, President Talabani emphasized that there is a misunderstanding regarding VP al-Hashimi stance from the elections law and said “VP al-Hashimi carried out his constitutional right regarding the elections law and the parliament has the right to accept or refuse this matter.”

Regarding relations between President Talabani and his deputy al-Hashimi, Talabani said “we have strong relations since the beginning of our joint work in the presidency council. Even if there were some differences, we work to solve them in a democratic way.”

“I and VP Adel Abdul Mahdi were agreed with VP al-Hashimi that the elections law includes some deficient issues. We said that we were ready to write a joint letter to the parliament, but the difference was to send this letter before or following vetoing the law.”

President Talabani criticized the media campaign against al-Hashimi and said “I refuse this campaign against VP al-Hashimi. He is a patriot and carries out his constitutional right to show the Iraqi people an important matter, because the elections are not an easy thing.”

President Talabani mentioned that there were requests from some MPs to veto the election law.

For his part, VP al-Hashimi expressed his happiness to meet President Talabani and said “this meeting was very important. We discuss the election law and our steps in the coming few days.”

“Differences between me, President Talabani and VP Abdul Mahdi was regarding the mechanisms, but we have the same ideas. Vetoing the law was neither a surprise thing nor a personal decision, but it was according to studies, advises and views.”

“The federal court said that the final date for the presidency council to accept or veto the elections law is on Sunday December 6. A suggestion will be presented to the parliament board to hold an emergency session. For me, the priority is for the national and political consensus. Vetoing the law will be my final choice.”

“This is an invitation to the parliament, so the political blocs can reach an agreement regarding the way of distributing seats among the provinces.”

“I call on all our brothers to reach a political consensus that satisfies all the parties regarding the election law. If so, then there will be no veto but there will be an approval”, al-Hashimi mentioned.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...14871&Itemid=1

Parliament consider amending the election law in an extraordinary session on Saturday

Planned to discuss the Iraqi parliament in a special meeting to be held on Saturday the proposals for amending the law on legislative elections and the board with Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the possibility of overturn the law again as soon as political blocs failed to reach a compromise formula.

The First Deputy Speaker Khalid al-Attiyah said that the Iraqi advance of the meeting came at the request of the country's president Jalal Talabani, adding that it will discuss proposals for the redistribution of parliamentary seats allocated to the provinces that endorsed in the election law, which set aside Hashemi three weeks ago.

Hashemi, who was been set aside the law that passed in the price of the last month after a long political debate back to parliament, demanding the return of the distribution of seats allocated to the provinces and increase the number of compensatory seats allocated to minorities and residents abroad, and electoral lists small, from 5 to 15 percent.

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Egypt, Iraq to boost investments

Osama Saleh, chairman of Egypt's investment authority, recently met with an Iraqi delegation to discuss joint development projects between the two countries.

Aiming to enhance economic relations between Egypt and Iraq, Saleh, chairman of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones(GAFI), received members of the delegation, which included senior officials and Iraqi investors headed by Sami Raouf Al-Araji, Chairman of the Iraqi National Investment Commission (NIC).

The meeting discussed the next steps towards implementing what was agreed upon during Investment Ministers Mahmoud Mohieldin's visit to Iraq this past August,

Representative from Iraqi companies in the fields of construction, pharmaceuticals as well as spinning and weaving were present along with E.xecutives of Egyptian companies operating in the field of construction, urban development and infrastructure.

The two sides are working together to establish joint ventures in transportation, hospitals, water and sanitation, with projects planned worth around $20 to $25 billion.

There are also plans to set up training programs for Iraqi experts in Egypt.

"Egypt welcomes the active participation in order to rebuild Iraq, providing its expertise in the revitalization of Iraqi institutions, namely the stock exchange of small and micro enterprises, law firms and the common area of governance and corporate social responsibility," Saleh said in the meeting.

Saleh said the investment authority will form a working group to monitor ongoing and planned projects and joint investments.

Mohieldin welcomed Iraqi investments in Egypt and said challenges to further investments will be addressed to grow economic cooperation between both countries.

Al-Araji said that Egyptian investments will contribute to both nations.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...14874&Itemid=1

An emergency session of parliament .. And fears of lack of quorum due to travel of a number of deputies

House of Representatives held an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss the allocation of seats to governorates and to calculate the minority seats in the election law.

The holding of the meeting after consultations and discussions took place yesterday between President Jalal Talabani and Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on amending the electoral law.

In the opinion of MP's parliamentary bloc virtue Karim al-Yacoubi said the special meeting tomorrow will discuss the latest developments to amend the election law, but that the House could not vote on anything because the law originally did not have but the Presidency of the Republic.

He said if the presidency was overturned the law to the House of Representatives could vote again or to agree on a specific mechanism, but not the House of Representatives can introduce some of the material law was lifted to the presidency of the republic."

He added: "The House of Representatives who can work on is to develop mechanisms for the work of the Electoral Commission over the distribution of seats and Kota minorities and vote itinerant abroad."

He explained: "The recommendations and mechanisms to be agreed upon will be submitted to the Electoral Commission and therefore, the Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi will approve the law."

According to deputies, the invitations to the representatives this morning to attend an emergency session of parliament tomorrow.

But political analysts have expressed fears that there is no quorum at the meeting tomorrow because of travel of a number of deputies out of Iraq or that some are still in the Hajj and that the deputy Kurdistan Alliance, mostly in the northern governorates.

The agreement took place yesterday evening between Talabani and Hashemi, according to spokesman List / renovation / Shaker book, the adoption of the records of 2005 and calculated the rate of increase in the provinces increased by 2,8 percent annually in the electoral law.

Noted that this matter is originally in the electoral law.

The Article 56 / I of the Constitution gave powers to the president to convene an emergency special session.

Under article mentioned that they (the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister or the President of the Council of Representatives or fifty members of the council may call for an extraordinary session, and the meeting shall be confined to the issues that necessitated the call to him."

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Hamdiya Husseini: To date there is no specific date for elections

Independent High Commission is considering the possibility of holding elections for the legislative elections in February next year.

She explained the President of the electoral administration in the Office Hamdiya Husseini, in a press statement that there is now a specific date for the elections because the determination of any date for the election must be issued by decree, asserting that the holding of elections in February based on the issuance of this decree.

And repeating the process on the vulnerability of the veto for the second time the election law, Husseini explained that this will certainly affect this table prepared.

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This was posted on another forum. I think it is an interesting read. Hope the poster doesn't mind. The link doesn't work.

Ten burning questions

By Lindsay Plodwick - Issue date: 12/4/09 Section: News

Economics professor Frank Gunter, who has been through two stays in Iraq as both a marine and the senior civilian economics adviser to the Multinational Corps, wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled "Liberate Iraq's Economy," in which he discussed the problems facing Iraq's economy.


Q: Why did you decide to write the editorial?

A: I spent two years in Iraq, once in 2005-2006 as a Marine and then in 2008-2009 as a civilian. The issue I wrote about was one that I thought wasn't getting the attention it deserves. Iraqis need to open up the private sector. Every year there are 250,000 young people, 80 percent of whom are men looking for their first job. Right now, their market can't sustain this.


Q: What was it like to be the senior civilian economics adviser to the Multinational Corps in Iraq?

A: I knew it was the most important job I would ever have. Let me tell you something: There aren't a lot of economists in the Marines. I was providing proposals, and people were really listening.


Q: As the senior civilian economic adviser, whom did you report to and how did you get that prestigious position?

A: Specifically, I answered to Major General Paul E. Lefebvre.

After five months of working on my first tour, my secret got leaked out - that I was an economist. So then I spent my last seven months of my first tour working as one. When General Lloyd Austin took over, he asked me to be the chief economic adviser.


Q: What do you believe to be the single largest problem Iraq faces?

A: I would have to say corruption. At the top, there are government officials taking bribes, and at the bottom, there are rice collectors ripping off poor peasants. There are long-term environmental causes, a high illiteracy rate. We can't change their culture. What we can change is policy.

The hostile private sector is their main problem. To start a business, it takes 10 documents, 77 days and $2,800. People have to choose whether to go through that or just pay bribes to an unending stream of government officials.


Q: What do you believe is the future of Iraq?

A: The Iraqi people are smart and able, but the bureaucracy has little incentive to change. Half of their labor force works for the government. They think that their problems can be solved by oil, but they may not realize that they need to act.


Q: Was the Iraqi government receptive to your suggestions as the senior civilian economics adviser?

A: If you're talking about the Baghdad ministries, then no. But we once saw people in the north complaining that they could not get fertilizer. When we investigated, perfectly good fertilizer was on sale at the local market, but the people were used to getting it for free and refused to buy it. They need to realize that they need to use the private sector.


Q: How have you brought this experience into the classroom at Lehigh for a unique learning experience?

A: I teach principles of economics and economic development, so I incorporate my experiences there. This spring, I'll be teaching a class called the Political Economy of Iraq, which I have been told is the only undergraduate course in America about the Iraqi economy.


Q: Is there a way to promote the private sector without the Baghdad ministries feeling like they have relinquished power?

A: China faced a similar problem a while back. They had the rest of the economy grow fast enough to make the powerful ministries and state-owned enterprises less important. Eventually it worked, and they freed up the private sector.


Q: Do you think the Baghdad ministries will respond to this growing problem of unemployment?

A: The council representatives in Baghdad have gotten a lot done in the past few years, and they can only do one thing at a time. But they don't have much time. They don't have things like social security, and part of the problem is their culture. It's shameful for a man to not be able to find a job. It's sad, but they will likely turn to insurgency movements or crime for means of support.


Q: Does the American government agree with your position?

A: After I was published, I got a series of e-mails saying that "this is not the policy of the United States." They don't believe that this is the right path for Iraq. Right now the U.S. has two main agendas: the oil law and the elections. The private sector is not their highest priority, and they can only focus on one to two things at a time.

MP Rashid al-Azzawi: Denunciation of al-Hashemi of the law ended since yesterday

A member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives that the revocation of Rashid al-Azzawi al-Hashemi Electoral law is finished since yesterday and considered the law ratified by the Presidency Council except that a constitutional Federal Court extended the period and gave him another chance for tomorrow.

He singled out al-Azzawi told the reporter "The law in the event of veto We need 165 members to pass the bill or acceptance of the veto in both cases would be too difficult, noting that to obtain this number is not only in the rally and convince the largest number of members of the House of Representatives because many of them Do not want this law already."

He pointed out that "obtaining the required number is difficult and will therefore enter into True sense of the word crisis."

http://translate.googleusercontent.c..._BavZGN6aO77mg

Office of the President: the election law will be effective in the event of a vote by Parliament for the third time

The head of Office of the President of the Republic of Iraq election law will be effective in the event of a vote by Parliament for the third time if the veto-Hashemi.

He said Naseer al-Ani told Kurdistan News (AKnews) said Friday that "if al-Hashemi aside the election law again and return to the Council of Representatives, the law will take effect if passed by council members a third time."

He added that "the Constitution stipulates that in case of approval by Congress of the law a third time, it will be effective from the presidency does not authenticate it."

It is scheduled to hold an emergency session of parliament to discuss the electoral law on the afternoon of Saturday, before the asylum-Hashemi to overturn the law.

The Federal Constitutional Court said in response to a question about the end of the legal period of the Presidential Council on the election law that mid-day Sunday will be the last date to take a final position within the Presidency of the Republic.

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MP Qusay Abdul Wahab: Iraqi politicians beat a very good example to overcome the constitutional mechanisms

A member of the House of Representatives MP Qusay Abdul Wahab That there is a desire of all the political blocs In order to reach As high as Compatibility as well as the involvement of All the political blocs to try to The real solution to this crisis.

Abdul Wahab added in a statement singled out by the reporter, That there is a desire to know what happened in the House of Representatives meeting of heads of blocs Political And our desire to involve the All the convening of this meeting, noting as I know that there is consensus Good seats are delivered so as not to be affected Any province is increasing the share of provinces in the Kurdish region and the result There was no Support for increasing the number of primary, and even objections could Be little Based on these very Proposals.

Adding that Iraqi politicians have beaten a very good example of how to bypass the constitutional mechanisms Or legal All things are Managed in a political way, noting that the issue of veto Political issue, not a constitutional or legal, even the Federal Court to believe that thinking Aitwavq with the law or the constitution And also subject to political pressure I think it's just the entrances and exits have no connection with the case law because it is a political issue par excellence.

http://al-iraqnews.net/new/siaysiah/44667.html